Sanchez to Start ASG vs. Cease in Home Park
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- Cristopher Sanchez will start Tuesday's All-Star Game for the NL at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, with NL manager Dave Roberts saying the left-hander 'deserves it' as 'the hometown ballplayer.'
- Dylan Cease (6-4, 2.56 ERA) gets the nod for the AL, announced by Toronto on Sunday and confirmed by AL skipper John Schneider; he's the first Blue Jays pitcher to start an All-Star Game since Roy Halladay in 2009.
- Sanchez is 11-4 with a 2.62 ERA, ranks third in MLB with 144 strikeouts, and earlier this season strung together a 50⅔ scoreless-innings streak — a high-water mark of the first half.
- Cease nearly threw his second career no-hitter Wednesday against San Francisco before it was broken up in the ninth inning, capping a first half strong enough to win him the AL start.
- Cam Schlittler, whose AL-leading 2.05 ERA had him in the ASG-start conversation, will not pitch in the game after throwing Saturday; Yankees manager Aaron Boone said no AL roster replacement is planned and Schlittler could start the second-half opener against the Dodgers on Friday.
- Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski — who leads MLB in ERA (1.62), WHIP (0.76) and strikeouts (167) — was replaced on the ASG roster earlier in the week after being scratched from a Sunday start because of arm fatigue.
Why it matters: The marquee ASG pitching matchup doubles as a showcase for two first-half breakouts — Sanchez in front of a Philadelphia crowd and Cease ending a 16-year Toronto ASG-start drought — yet two other top-tier arms (Schlittler at a 2.05 AL-best ERA, Misiorowski at a 1.62 MLB-best) won't take the mound, leaving MLB's midseason exhibition thinner on elite pitching than its underlying stats would suggest.
